Surah An Nur Tafseer

The Power of Allah to create the Clouds and that which comes from Them

Allah tells:

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يُزْجِي سَحَابًا

See you not that Allah drives the clouds gently,

Allah tells us that He drives the clouds from the beginning, when they are formed and are still weak. This is the "Gentle driving."

ثُمَّ يُوَلِّفُ بَيْنَهُ

then joins them together,

means, He brings them together after they have been scattered.

ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُ رُكَامًا

then makes them into a heap of layers,

means, He piles them up on top of one another.

فَتَرَى الْوَدْقَ

and you see the Wadq,

meaning the rain,

يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَلِهِ

come forth from between them;

means, from the gaps between them.

This is how it was understood by Ibn Abbas and Ad-Dahhak.

Ubayd bin Umayr Al-Laythi said:

"Allah sends the scatterer (wind), which stirs up that which is on the surface of the earth.

Then he sends the generator (wind), which forms the clouds.

Then He sends the joiner (wind) which brings them together.

Then He sends the fertilizer (wind) which fertilizes or `seeds' the clouds."

This was recorded by Ibn Abi Hatim and Ibn Jarir.

وَيُنَزِّلُ مِنَ السَّمَاء مِن جِبَالٍ فِيهَا مِن بَرَدٍ

and He sends down from (Min) the sky, from (Min) mountains in it of (Min) ice,

Some of the grammarians said that the first Min describes the place from which it is coming, the second specifies from which part of the sky it comes, and the third means some kind of mountains.

This is based on the view of those scholars of Tafsir who say that,

مِن جِبَالٍ فِيهَا مِن بَرَدٍ

from (Min) mountains in it of (Min) ice,

means that there are mountains of hail in the sky from which Allah sends down ice.

As for those who say that "mountains" here is used as a metaphor for clouds, they think that the second Min is also used to describe the place from which the ice is coming, and is thus interchangeable with the first.

And Allah knows best.

فَيُصِيبُ بِهِ مَن يَشَاء وَيَصْرِفُهُ عَن مَّن يَشَاء

and strikes therewith whom He wills, and averts it from whom He wills.

It may be that the phrase

فَيُصِيبُ بِهِ

(and strikes therewith),

means, with what He sends down from the sky of different kinds of rain and hail.

So then the phrase

فَيُصِيبُ بِهِ مَن يَشَاء

(and strikes therewith whom He wills) means, by His mercy towards them,

and

وَيَصْرِفُهُ عَن مَّن يَشَاء

(and averts it from whom He wills) means, He withholds rain from them.

Or it may be that

فَيُصِيبُ بِهِ

(and strikes therewith),

means, with hail, as a punishment towards whomever He wills, striking their fruits and destroying their crops and trees. And He averts it from whomever He wills as a mercy towards them.

يَكَادُ سَنَا بَرْقِهِ يَذْهَبُ بِالاَْبْصَارِ

The vivid flash of its lightning nearly blinds the sight.

the brightness of its lightning almost takes away their sight if the eyes follow it and try to look at it